


House of learning

by Lonelylittleloser



Category: House of Anubis
Genre: Angst, Eddie is just goofing around, Father-Son Issues, Sweetie is making sad choices, Victor is an amateur hypnotist in a funny suit, back story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:08:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27724615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonelylittleloser/pseuds/Lonelylittleloser
Summary: Eddie Miller couldn't know any better when he did what he did. He was only a child, and a young one at that. But unfortunately, being the Osirian wasn't always the superpower he thought it was, and Eric Sweet had to make an unfortunate decision that day which would change his life forever.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6





	House of learning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [victorselixir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/victorselixir/gifts).



> Ella batted this idea to me very early in the morning and I couldn't help myself, partly because I was just imagining Victor working as an amateur hypnotist which made me laugh, but anyway enjoy. It's a different writing style and I can't tell if I like it or not so, hope you all do.

“ _CLARISSA!”_

The scream pierced through the walls of the house, the immense wail was harrowing and passionate. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, from the tea cup falling, shattering, onto the kitchen floor, to the clock ticking its way each second. In this moment, Eric Sweet swore he could break down, but he couldn’t allow it. His feet were racing into the garden, and climbing as fast as he could into the hole which had appeared within the garden. Dirt scraped against his clothes and rocks threatened to slip with each step but he wouldn’t stop.

As he finally reached the bottom of the sinkhole, he reached for his son first, before looking around, desperately searching. _Where’s Jack_? The thought’s raced through his mind at a thousand miles a minute, but it was hard to see when the collapse in his garden had left a dirt cloud hanging in the air.

“I was trying to show him what I could do Daddy,” Eddie said as Eric continued to frantically look around. “Did I do something wrong?”

Eric couldn’t answer right now, partly from the dust cloud in the air limiting his breath, mostly from the stress occurring. Eventually, he laid eyes on a colourful shoe beneath a pile of dirt. Still holding Eddie in his arms, he ran over and used his own hands to forage in the dirt, lifting it away as fast as he could. Eventually, he pulled up the young boy in his other arms, as he heard the desperate footsteps of his fiancé above.

“Eric! Eric what happened?” She sounded as desperate as he was, and he could barely string his words together. He could vaguely remember instructing her to grab a ladder, and fast. Sinkholes were temperamental, weather they were natural, or a product of your child’s super-abilities.

When the ladder was placed in, Eric instructed Eddie, who seemed unharmed by the incident to climb up it fist.

“But Daddy, I’m scared of ladders.” It wasn’t abnormal for children this young to fear ascending on anything but a sturdy set of stairs, but Eric couldn’t carry both children in his arms and he remembered telling Eddie he needed to be brave. He would be right behind him every step of the way. He followed his son out with great difficulty, carrying a child in one arm trying not to let the wobbling of the ladder distress him.

Once they were out, he could see the tears coming from her face, Clarissa was holding tight onto Eddie when she saw the state Jack was in. She quickly ran to the phone, as Eric sat on the side of the house trying to help the poor boy breath.

“What do we say when the ambulance shows up, Eric?” It seemed like it should have been the first thing on either of their minds, but this was the reality for them. Their child, their beautiful boy, he was different. He was special. They had to face the reality that he had done this, the impossible and broken through several layers of earth and dirt in their own back yard. And they had to explain this. What if the boy died.

“Daddy, is Jack okay? Why isn’t he talking much?” His question only brought tears to Eric’s eyes. How could he remain calm when this had happened? How could he be so stupid as to think he was able to control his powers. Yes, he had made great progress in there training, but he was still only a child.

“Clarissa, take him inside. I’ll handle this.”

And handle it he did. The ambulance arrived almost on time with Jacks own parents. And Eric explained the story. His version. A sinkhole had appeared. He didn’t know how, or why, but he would be getting an inspection round that same day. Nothing more to it, Eddie had been standing on the side-lines, that’s how he was unharmed. Jack was injured, but he was breathing, a good sign. He hoped.

Once the ambulance had driven away, he returned back inside to Eddie asking so many questions, but he couldn’t find the answers to give. He went to the kitchen and dialled the phone, the only number he could think to ring. This man would be able to do something, he would have answers.

“Hello, Victor. It’s me. We have a problem, and you’re the only person I know who can help.”

Victor was on the next flight out he could get. He would arrive by the morning.

* * *

In their bedroom that night, after finally putting Eddie to sleep, they were arguing. Victor had told him over the phone this was the only thing that could work. Eric was prepared to do anything to save his son, to give him a normal childhood. Even if it meant doing the one thing which wrenched his heart away from his chest.

“We don’t have to do this, Eric!” She was crying again, just like before. It was hard to keep her voice down with the news he was giving her. “We can get through this okay? He just needs more practice. We can home school him. Keep him away from the other children until it’s safe to for him to reintegrate!”

Her words pierced through him, because her desperation was clear. Saying no to this woman had never been easy. But this was the one time he had to put his foot down.

“And what kind of life is that for a child? I cannot put him through that!”

The two had been going at it for hours, neither seeming willing to entertain the ideas of the other. But Eric knew he would have the final say. His son was the Osirian, and Clarissa despite her best attempts to educate herself on what that meant, she just didn’t know enough about how to protect, raise, and nurture that side of her son the same way Eric did. His years of knowledge in the Egyptian divine, alongside training till birth to be the seeker one day, had come in handy when he discovered his son indeed would become the new Osirian.

But, despite his best efforts, Eddie was a risk. What had happened today was any parent’s worst nightmare. Finally, the message seemed to sink into his wife’s mind, and she held her breath. She looked at the ring on her finger, wondering what any of this meant for her.

“And what do I tell him? Huh? He’s going to live his whole life thinking his father just, up and left for the rest of his life?” Despite slowly accepting that this was probably going to happen, she wouldn’t go down without a fight. That was the thing Eric loved so much about her. Right now, it was bringing only pain to his heart.

“Anything but the truth. Thinking that is much better than for him to live a life caged up. Even if he hates me, I need him to be safe. I need him to live a normal life.” This was when the truth finally hit her, and she pulled both hands to her face as the tears rolled freely. This would be the last night she would spend with the man she loved. His suitcase had already been packed. Despite her protests, he continued to fill his whole life into but one suitcase.

She pulled her hands away from her face, and calmed her breathing, just long enough to make sure one final point was put across to him, loud and clear. She raised her finger and pointed to the man, stern and knowing.

“Do whatever you need to then, to keep our boy safe. Do as you please. But this won’t be the last time you see him Eric, I promise.”

After the words came out, she felt the tears flood back, as she collapsed to the floor. He rushed over instantly to hold her. He sat behind her, and hissed her shoulder. She cried on into the night.

* * *

As morning came, Eric would down the stair case to find his son in the kitchen, bowl of cereal in hand.

“Daddy, look, I made my own cereal!” It took everything inside of him to choke back the tears.

“Remarkable my boy.”

The rest of the morning was the most difficult time of his life. Waiting for that knock on the door. He wished he could lock and bolt the door forever, and never let his son from his sights. But he had to do what was right.

“Daddy, are you going to do superhero practice today?” It stung like a knife. Having to explain to his son that no, today they would have a day off. They couldn’t train because a visitor was coming. A special visitor, to help him control his powers.

The only way he could control his powers was this way.

Finally, the knock came.

The next thing he knew, he was inside the dining room with an old face from years ago, yet age had not withered his friend the same way it had him. Instead, he looked just as he had before, not a single age line or grey hair had touched him. No, the enabler was still up to his old ways he could tell.

They sat with the door closed away from Eddies prying ears for near an hour, discussing the process. Victor repeating his warning from the phone time and time again. _Hypnosis is weak, and susceptible to cracks, any memory of his powers could bring them all back, as his mentor and trainer, you are a risk to the boy_. Finally, they had spoken long enough. It was time to do what must be done.

He had told his son that Victor too had powers. That was how he got him to trust him so fast. That was one thing Victor had told him about the process. They would need Trust.

“You have powers too? Daddy told me he knew another Osirian. That’s how he knew how to teach me! Is that you? Are you like me?” Again, bombarding with questions. He was a young and curious mind. Capping him of from the knowledge he desperately craved almost felt wrong, as if he were clipping a bird’s wing. But he knew what he was doing was the only way he could keep him safe.

“Me? No, but I am the person who thought your dad everything he knows. My old best friend was an Osirian too, you see.” It was strange, in all his years Eric had never seen a possible pleasant side of Victor, but here he seemed to work quite well with Children. Maybe only in his attempt to gain their trust.

The next thing he knew, his son was holding the Crook and Flail of Osiris, two powerful instruments with which he preferred not to ask questions regarding how Victor came into the possession of. They were saving his son.

“Now, repeat after me.” Victor said, and a complex chorus of hums and chants escaped his lips. Eddie struggled to get it right the first few times, but eventually he managed to make it work. Eventually, a golden glow was covering his son, and after a few moments begun shrinking inwards, and inwards, till a tiny spec of light glimmered over his heart, before disappearing.

Victor walked over to the man he called a friend, and told him it was best he leaves the room for the next part. The first part of the process was complete. His son’s powers were dormant now. They hadn’t disappeared, getting a part of a God’s soul out of your child’s body isn’t a particularly easy task on a Tuesday afternoon, no instead the powers were under the surface. One day, should they be needed, nothing could stop them from awakening themselves. But that day would hopefully never come.

Now however, it was time to erase the memories, to make sure the powers stayed hidden. And erasing the memories of his powers, came with the cost. He must erase the memories of Eric.

Despite his best desire to stay within the room, he knew he must leave. He asked Victor then for one final moment. Eddie was swinging his legs on the chair where he sat, looking closer at the stick he had just used. He wasn’t quite sure what kind of magic they had just done. Nothing seemed to happen. Pretty weak powers from this new man.

Eric crouched down, to say goodbye to his son one final time.

“Hey, can we have dino nuggets tonight dad?” He had never held his son tighter in his entire life.

“Of course, we can. I need to go get them from the shop now though. You behave for your mother, alright?” Eddie didn’t understand why his father was holding him so tight. The shop was only a few minutes away. But none the less, he enjoyed the hug. And in a few moments, he would forget all about it.

As Eric stood outside the front door, whilst Victor performed the last step, Clarissa ran outside to him. In her hand was a ring, the same ring he had offered her just six months ago. She made him promise one thing. _Don’t forget about us_.

* * *

The taxi ride to the airport felt like it would take forever. He was leaving behind his whole life, and he wondered if he had made the right choice already. Victor was beside him, babbling on again about how a child that young couldn’t be trusted with those powers and lead a normal life. It was a choice to be made. How if he had made the decision to depress his boys power years ago they would never have gotten into this mess, or how he should have chosen a full time Osirian training schedule and given up hope of any normal life till 12 at the earliest. How Rufus had been raised from such a young age so intensely that he could be trusted at least near fellow children by Edison’s age.

Rubbish, Eric thought. Like any father, he knew in his own mind the only reason his son was a different case was because he was special. Rufus may have been trusted around other children because his parents knew he was weak. But Eric knew better. His son was simply too powerful. The level of patience needed to control the fire within him was simply too strong. His son had no chance of control when he was simply more powerful than anyone could imagine.

Though, as much as Eric knew this to be fact, it didn’t stop the mithers from Victor wearing away at him. He had made the decision to train his son to control his powers from a young age, and think he could live a normal life. Most Osirian’s before him had to have a choice made for them.

He was caught off guard when he realised Victor had stopped harping on about his decisions in parenting styles, and had shifted the conversation to ask about his own plans for his new life back in England.

“I’m aware you had a job as headteacher here, am I right?”

“Principal they call it here actually.”

“Well, the school set up, by Sarah, Rufus and I. There happens to be an opening coming up. It may be worth you throwing your hat in the ring.”

No more was said in that conversation, but Eric knew exactly what Victor had meant. It was beneficial for his research to have a man on the inside working in the position, a man who knew all about the circumstances they were tangled up in so deeply. Both found themselves beneficial to one another.

Not long into his headship at the school had he found himself involved in the society. He had lost his family, he had lost the reason why he lived. He needed to find reason in something else. They had formed somewhat of a close bond, the seven of them. Whilst it had taken a lot of convincing from Victor, he found himself rather enjoying this new group of friends he had made.

In a decade’s time, they would be betrayed by one of their own, gone rogue, the betrayer they would call him. Eric would not particularly miss this man. He reminded him far too much of the child he had lost. The society would fail, and life would move on. The elixir was depleted now, and in all the years he had bought himself, he had failed to find any solution to his loneliness.

That was until that summer. Clarissa’s phone call. Begging Eric to take the gamble and have Eddie at his school. He was older now, and so young when it happened it would surely be forgotten anyway. After hours and hours deliberating with Victor, they had finally deemed it safe for his return, but advised the boy stayed in Anubis house, under Victors watchful eyes, and not with Eric in his own property. Victor worried that the extended exposure could risk everything.

And it had worked, months in the UK with no flashbacks, no explosions, no broken bones. They had done it. That was however until Senkhara took over the body of Nina Martin, the chosen one. Victor had not told a lie, there was only so much he could do to suppress the powers, but one day, they were inevitable to return. But when they did, Edison had refined his skills, as if by miracle. He had somehow freed his Paragon from the clutches of the forgotten ruler with ease and elegance.

No one could explain it, except for Eric. He had said all those years before that his son was special. And he had been spot on. His son would become the most powerful Osirian of all time, he knew it. It was only a matter of time now.


End file.
